Joined The Superb Club Today - Any Advice?

[FrostPulse]

Evening Guys & Girls, 

 

I have just placed a deposit on a MY2017 Superb L&K 2.0tdi 150 DSG Hatch to replace my Rapid Spaceback. It has served me well but its time for something a little more refined. 

 

Was wondering if you guys and girls had any advice and things to look out for / keep an eye on besides obvious maintenance and any helpful advice to get the most out of the car as this is far more technologically advanced than my old one. 

 

Also this is the first Automatic / DSG car i have owned and ever driven so any advice for getting the best out of the gearbox and any quirks these units have would be appreciated. 

 

I did select the 2 year approved used warranty as there are many more things to break on this one so hopefully (touch wood) all will be ok. 

 

Thanks in advance for any advice. 

 

 

[Kamikazekid]

Disable start/stop with VCDS as it’s a nightmare with DSG. While you’re at it, check out the VCDS adaptations thread. 
 

When slowing down you may notice 2nd gear is a bit snatchy as the car shifts down the gears. I’ve read it’s common on the DSG’s. Mine does it. I have read this problem seems to be cured with a DSG flash but can’t confirm. It’s not a big issue. 
 

Front assist, adaptive cruise and traffic jam assist have their quirks but once you get used to how the car behaves, they are really nice features. Well maybe not front assist, but best to have it switched on...right? I enabled undertaking on adaptive cruise on mine as my daily drive has a very long exit/slip lane. Before making this change it was unsettling when the car would unexpectedly brake when it saw I was about to undertake (sort of). 
 

Fit a pedal box. The stock accelerator response is awful (at least it was in my 190). I read all the comments good and bad about pedal boxes for weeks before biting the bullet. Just do it. So much nicer to drive. 
 

On mine, a couple of times I have had it where the radio loses all presets. A common issue with no known fix. But it hasn’t done it for ages. 
 

Another common issue, the drivers seat memory can get lost if you go all the way back or forward (can’t remember which). 
 

The standard Pirelli tyres are awful. 
 

I’ve found this forum to be really useful for any issues or questions I’ve had since owning my Superb, so you’re in the right place.  Enjoy the car!

[FatWolfie]

You’ll get conflicting advice!

 

stop start in association with DSG is IMHO absolutely fine. It’s clunky if you reactivate the engine on the throttle, but a tweak of the steering wheel restarts the engine and then you drive off smoothly. It can cut the engine before you stop, but as the power to the brakes and steering are still there, it makes no difference. If you think you’re going to want the engine to run again (say it cuts out as you come up to a roundabout) , just keep a bit of tension in the steering and it won’t activate. To me, all cars have their quirks that you have to adapt your driving style to to get the best out of, this is one of the Skoda’s.

 

Re the pedal box, on my 150bhp diesel I’ve never found a problem with the throttle response. but plenty of people don’t agree - suggest you see how you feel once you’ve got used to the car.

 

Tyres - agree P7 Pirelli’s are a bit sketchy in the wet (mainly when pulling away as opposed to outright grip ) and are a bit noisy on certain surfaces. But when I looked into changing them, it was about £600 for some Michelin Cross Climates and I decided they weren’t that bad!

 

when I got my car I was convinced that I would need to get the car  coded, pedal box etc. But after driving it a bit, decided for my style of driving I didn’t need to do these things. Only by using the car can you really determine whether the changes are worth it for you.

 

So my advice is to get the car, drive it for 1,000 miles of so, and see how it fits with how you drive before diving in and getting coding done, pedal boxes, lowered suspension, and the myriad of “essential” things folk tell you you’ll need to do. 
 

if this sounds like I’m having a subtle dig at people who make these changes - I’m not - we all have different driving styles, techniques and expectations. It’s more that only you can decide whether the changes are worth it for you. They weren’t for me!

 

 

[MarkyG82]

15 minutes ago, FatWolfie said:

 but a tweak of the steering wheel restarts the engine and then you drive off smoothly.

 

 

 

This is very interesting.  Having just reactivated SS in readiness to get rid if the car it's taking me a while to get used to it again.  Will try this on the way home later.

[Kamikazekid]

All fair comments and you are right to point out that everyone has their own preferences and opinions. 
 

The stop/start for me felt dangerous when pulling out of junctions, too delayed. I take your point on the steering wheel thing but I didn’t want to have to put that much thought into it, I just want it to work. It probably doesn’t help that I’m not a fan of stop start anyway. That said, on my sisters petrol, manual Octavia it’s seemless. 
 

pedalbox, yeah it’s not essential. I just found the car felt lazy off the mark or out of junctions. I guess this will largely depend on what cars you’ve driven previously. BMWs have a very heavy accelerator pedal (you have to press down hard), whereas a Civic Type R tears off the line with very little input. I’ve had this conversation before and I like to compare it to adjusting the sensitivity of your controller on a first person shooter game like COD on the PlayStation/Xbox. Personal preference. 
 

100% agree about the tyres. I wouldn’t waste the money replacing them unnecessarily. My fronts wore down so I bought 2 Crossclimates which are now on the back, that way I can wear down the other 2 Pirellis by having them on the driven wheels at the front. 

[Pessimal]

re start/stop, i give the loud pedal a prob about a second before i need to move off (ie as soon as the lights turn yellow) which helps keeping things smooth when moving off.

 

also, i find that rather pressing the brake pedal hard at a junction, keep a light pressure on it (but enough to keep you stopped) and it stops the car from shutting the engine off

[MarkyG82]

7 hours ago, MarkyG82 said:

 

This is very interesting.  Having just reactivated SS in readiness to get rid if the car it's taking me a while to get used to it again.  Will try this on the way home later.

Can confirm that this trick does not work on a pfl Octavia. Tried it in 3 separate stops and didn't do a thing.

[FatWolfie]

@MarkyG82 I’ve no idea whether or not is would work on anything other than a Superb.

 

Just as a thought though, as you had the SS coded out, maybe when it was coded back in that (steering tweak) function wasn’t put back in or was corrupted by coding SS on and then off? 
 

kind of irrelevant though I know as you said you’d had it put back on as you’re selling the car. More of an academic question really, I’ve no idea on the risks or otherwise of coding stuff in or out of the car.

[MarkyG82]

It's very possible as I did the lazy thing and used the built in app on obd eleven to disable (18 months) then enable. I know it's not the right thing to do as you never know what is being changed but I didn't know that at the time. Anything could have been adjusted....

[Mexico75]

Mine re starts the engine if you move the steering wheel, press the brake or if the car in front moves forward. Oh and obviously if you press the accelerator.

Edited 4 September, 2020 by Mexico75

[ericsuperb]

I've had my mk 111 for 2+ years now - difficult to find any fault. I automatically cancel the stop/start button at the same time as turning off the hand brake. Easy. One thing which a new DSG user may find tricky is shunting and the liability to lurch with too much throttle. I find it best to keep foot off altogether and let it do its own thing, with foot hovering over brake pedal if it gets too enthusiastic.

Also being a 75 year old git I find it very easy to get tangled up with the multitudinous displays available on the dash - don't get this problem with my 1930 Morris Minor!

[IanJD]

On 03/09/2020 at 13:47, Pessimal said:

re start/stop, i give the loud pedal a prob about a second before i need to move off (ie as soon as the lights turn yellow) which helps keeping things smooth when moving off.

 

also, i find that rather pressing the brake pedal hard at a junction, keep a light pressure on it (but enough to keep you stopped) and it stops the car from shutting the engine off

Mine (TSI272) restarts when you lift your foot off the brake, it's running by the time your foot presses the accelerator, so I don't understand people who complain about a delay.

 

Unless they've turned on the automatic handbrake, in which case the engine doesn't restart until you press the accelarator and there is then a delay.

 

So I'd say the problem is enabling the auto brake, not start-stop as such.

[Kamikazekid]

Deal breaker for me as I find auto hold a genuinely useful feature. Plus I don’t feel start stop really adds anything useful. 
 

More wear and tear on battery and starter motor. In the summer I want my A/C going, in the winter I want the heating on and windows clear. In my experience as soon as the engine stops, the lights change and off I go again. Almost pointless. If I get stuck in traffic at a standstill I’ll just turn the engine off myself. I don’t think it has much of an eco benefit to be honest. Just another way for the manufacturers to blag their economy figures of make out the car is more eco friendly than it really is. No benefit to the driver. No doubt someone will slate me and say we need to save the world from diesel fumes...I agree, but you could make a much bigger contribution to reducing emissions or improving economy by getting a smaller engine or just going electric. Depends what your priorities are. Just my opinions. Others are welcome!

[IanJD]

1 hour ago, Kamikazekid said:

Deal breaker for me as I find auto hold a genuinely useful feature. Plus I don’t feel start stop really adds anything useful. 
 

More wear and tear on battery and starter motor. In the summer I want my A/C going, in the winter I want the heating on and windows clear. In my experience as soon as the engine stops, the lights change and off I go again. Almost pointless. If I get stuck in traffic at a standstill I’ll just turn the engine off myself. I don’t think it has much of an eco benefit to be honest. Just another way for the manufacturers to blag their economy figures of make out the car is more eco friendly than it really is. No benefit to the driver. No doubt someone will slate me and say we need to save the world from diesel fumes...I agree, but you could make a much bigger contribution to reducing emissions or improving economy by getting a smaller engine or just going electric. Depends what your priorities are. Just my opinions. Others are welcome!

I agree that stop-start is a largely pointless eco-economy mpg/CO2 fiddle which does little in real life (which doesn't stop turning the engine off when in a queue being compulsory in Germany), but my point was that objecting to it because of start delay is an auto-handbrake issue, not a start-stop one.

 

Autohold (e.g. on a slope) doesn't need the auto-handbrake turning on, with stop-start on the car holds on the footbrake until you press the accelerator. All this assumes a DSG (which both my Superbs have had), maybe it's different with a manual.

[MarkyG82]

2 hours ago, IanJD said:

Mine (TSI272) restarts when you lift your foot off the brake, it's running by the time your foot presses the accelerator, so I don't understand people who complain about a delay.

 

 

It's exaggerated with TDI as it take more to turn it over. Just a split second longer makes the difference.

[Kamikazekid]

Never seen my handbrake activate automatically. Only if I stop and switch the engine off and forget to activate it. When I stop at a junction the breaks hold. When I press the accelerator they release. All I know is start/stop means nothing happens until I press the accelerator and the delay is dangerous. I have a DSG. Easy answer for me was just permanently disable it. Most people I know switch it off everytime they start their car anyway so easier to just bin it off for me. 

[IanJD]

On 05/09/2020 at 16:31, Kamikazekid said:

Never seen my handbrake activate automatically. Only if I stop and switch the engine off and forget to activate it. When I stop at a junction the breaks hold. When I press the accelerator they release. All I know is start/stop means nothing happens until I press the accelerator and the delay is dangerous. I have a DSG. Easy answer for me was just permanently disable it. Most people I know switch it off everytime they start their car anyway so easier to just bin it off for me. 

 

Start-stop and autobrake on the Superb (with DSG) works like this. Start-stop is enabled by default at startup, you can turn it off but this is forgotten when you turn the ignition off. Auto-brake (handbrake) is disabled by default at startup. With start-stop on and autobrake off (default setting), when you stop the car using the footbrake (or just before) the engine cuts out, and stays that way as long as you have your foot on the brake. When you take your foot off the brake the engine restarts, and (in a TSI) is running by the time your foot can press the accelerator -- result, no delay (may not be same on TDI due to longer cranking time). The car also has hill hold so if it's on a slope the footbrake stays on after you take your foot off it and releases when you press the accelerator to move off.

 

If you turn auto-handbrake on (switch on centre console), the engine doesn't restart when you take your foot off the brake, it only starts (and handbrake releases) when you press the accelerator -- in this case there is a noticeable delay which I agree is dangerous.

 

For TSI engines which restart quickly (and start and stop without a judder) there is no delay or annoyance with start-stop only, this was the case for my previous TSI220 and current TSI272.

 

For TDI engines which restart more slowly (and also with a noticeable judder IIRC) there may well be a delay as other people have said.

 

So the problem is not start-stop as such, it's start-stop with the TDI engines. It works fine with the TSI engines which will also consume a lot more fuel at idle than the TDI, so start-stop could make sense for these. With the TDI engines with much lower fuel consumption at idle (no throttle), slower starting (longer delay), and more noise/judder when starting and stopping, it doesn't make sense.

 

What is really annoying is that like many other things (e.g. driving mode) the Superb no longer remembers driver-selected options next time it's started. Maybe this is now mandatory to avoid manufacturers fiddling emissions tests by secretly enabling "eco" options instead of standard ones (so VW could be to blame...) but it's really irritating -- for example I always want DCC to be in sport mode (less bouncy) but have to select this every time I restart the engine :-(

[Kamikazekid]

1 hour ago, IanJD said:

Auto-brake (handbrake) is disabled by default at startup.

Not on my 2017 190TDI L&K. It is enabled by default. Unless maybe it remembers the previous setting? Interesting to know that the car restarts once you release the brake when the auto-brake feature is switched off. I didn’t realise that. 
 

1 hour ago, IanJD said:The car also has hill hold so if it's on a slope the footbrake stays on after you take your foot off it and releases when you press the accelerator to move off.

I assume when you say hill hold, you mean the technology lots of other vehicles have where it will hold for a few seconds to give you time to pull away, but if you release the brake and do nothing, it will after a short time start to roll backwards? I assumed the Auto-handbrake as you call it, was just a newer/more advanced version of this. I didn’t realise the car could do both depending on which way you set it. So again thanks that’s interesting to know. 
 

1 hour ago, IanJD said:

For TSI engines which restart quickly (and start and stop without a judder) there is no delay or annoyance with start-stop only, this was the case for my previous TSI220 and current TSI272.

Agreed. My sister has a 1.5 TSI Octavia and it works really well. The engine is so quiet you barely notice start-stop happening. 
 

1 hour ago, IanJD said:

What is really annoying is that like many other things (e.g. driving mode) the Superb no longer remembers driver-selected options next time it's started. Maybe this is now mandatory to avoid manufacturers fiddling emissions tests by secretly enabling "eco" options instead of standard ones (so VW could be to blame...) but it's really irritating -- for example I always want DCC to be in sport mode (less bouncy) but have to select this every time I restart the engine :-(

Agreed, although when I first got the car the Mrs. used to drive around in Eco driving mode (until I convinced her of how awful this makes the car feel to drive!), the car remembered that she drove in eco and I used normal based on our driver/ key profiles. Perhaps it allows you to do it one way (eco) but not the other (sport)? Seems silly to not let the driver decide how they want it saved. I’ll try sport on mine later and see if it remembers the next time I take it out. 

[IanJD]

1 hour ago, Kamikazekid said:

Not on my 2017 190TDI L&K. It is enabled by default. Unless maybe it remembers the previous setting? Interesting to know that the car restarts once you release the brake when the auto-brake feature is switched off. I didn’t realise that. 
 

I assume when you say hill hold, you mean the technology lots of other vehicles have where it will hold for a few seconds to give you time to pull away, but if you release the brake and do nothing, it will after a short time start to roll backwards? I assumed the Auto-handbrake as you call it, was just a newer/more advanced version of this. I didn’t realise the car could do both depending on which way you set it. So again thanks that’s interesting to know. 
 

Agreed. My sister has a 1.5 TSI Octavia and it works really well. The engine is so quiet you barely notice start-stop happening. 
 

Agreed, although when I first got the car the Mrs. used to drive around in Eco driving mode (until I convinced her of how awful this makes the car feel to drive!), the car remembered that she drove in eco and I used normal based on our driver/ key profiles. Perhaps it allows you to do it one way (eco) but not the other (sport)? Seems silly to not let the driver decide how they want it saved. I’ll try sport on mine later and see if it remembers the next time I take it out. 

The Superb (e.g. 2017) used to remember settings, the newer ones (e.g. 2019) don't -- I use individual mode (with just DCC set to Sport) and have to re-enable it though the menus every time I start the car :-(

 

If you have the auto-handbrake enabled (and the car remembers the setting) this is probably why you think start-stop is dangerous -- try turning it off.

 

Hill-hold happens all the time, if the car is on a slope it keeps the footbrake on until you press the accelerator. Auto-handbrake sets the (electric) handbrake on, as if you've parked.